AN EMPIRICAL-INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOFTWARE DOCUMENTATION DELIVERY SYSTEMS

Two types of documentation delivery systems were examined. On-line and printed software documentation systems for a commercial data base management system were explored. In a controlled lab experiment, two groups of novice subjects using one or the other type of documentation were tested and the results compared. Printed-documentations users had better test scores and completed the test faster. On-line-documentation users were frustrated by inadequate instructions and examples. Overall, printed documentation was favored by the subjects in the study.